Trump Threatens to Pull NBC Off the Air Over Scathing Story

Time and again, Donald Trump has used his Twitter account as a bully pulpit to harass news organizations that have published unflattering stories about him and his administration. “The failing @nytimes has disgraced the media world,” Trump said in a March tweet. “Gotten me wrong for two solid years. Change libel laws?” He’s called Arianna Huffington a “liberal clown” and a “dummy”; New York TimesreportersMaggie Haberman and Amy Chozick “third rate reporters . . . in the Hillary circle of bias”; and CNN “fake news”, over and over and over again. Last week, he urged the Senate Intelligence Committee to investigate news outlets for supposedly publishing “fake” news. And over the weekend he suggested that it was time to reinstate the Fairness Doctrine, the 1949 policy requiring holders of broadcast licenses to present controversial issues in a balanced way.

But he took his media antagonism a step further on Wednesday, wondering aloud via tweet whether the F.C.C. should revoke broadcaster NBC’s licenses, after the network published a story saying he had sought a tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. “Fake @NBCNews made up a story that I wanted a ‘tenfold’ increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Pure fiction, made up to demean. NBC=CNN,” he said in a tweet. “With all of the Fake News coming out of NBC and the Networks, at what point is it appropriate to challenge their License? Bad for country!” According to the White House press pool, Trump later said on Wednesday: “It is frankly disgusting the press is able to write whatever it wants to write.”

It’s unusual for a station to have its license challenged, though it isn’t without political precedent. “Is that Mr. Nixon speaking? That’s the last time we had that,” Peter Tannenwald, a communications attorney, told Bloomberg Wednesday, referring to then President Richard Nixon urging his staff to interfere with The Washington Post’s ability to renew its licenses for Florida television stations during Watergate.

Many were quick to point out that Trump’s tweet was a toothless threat. NBC doesn’t get granted a single license, nor does any national television network; only individual local stations get licenses from the F.C.C., and are subject to review every eight years. Trump could not challenge all the licenses NBC holds at once. Instead, individuals who live in areas where local channels air would have to submit their own complaints. Nevertheless, the president’s antagonism toward the media, which carries distinctly authoritarian undertones, could undercut U.S. advocacy for press freedom in parts of the world where media outlets are on a much tighter leash. In response to a story this week about Turkey convicting a Wall Street Journal reporter of “terrorist propaganda,” the State Department released a statement Wednesday urging Turkey to respect freedom of expression. “Even speech which some find controversial or uncomfortable . . . strengthens democracy and needs to be protected,” a spokesperson wrote. “More voices, not fewer, are necessary in challenging times.” The message might as well have been directed at the president.